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Memo from MPD Chief Muterspaw

The Middletown Division of Police routinely reposts my blog entries on their Facebook page. Today, I’ll return the favor. Below is new information from Police Chief Muterspaw on how we continue to vary strategies and tactics to deal with drug addiction and trafficking in the City.

From Chief R. Muterspaw:

DEPARTMENTAL MEMO
March 1, 2017

Effective immediately, MPD will be making a major change in our fight against Drug Trafficking into Middletown. We will be joining the Butler County Sheriff’s BURN unit.

Despite all of our efforts with enforcement, education, and prevention the facts are as follows:

1. The number of people in Butler County who have overdosed has tripled since 2011
2. In 2016 alone, over 55,000 people in America died from an overdose. Much higher than 2015.
3. In 2015/2016 drug overdoses increased dramatically in Butler County.
4. The City of Middletown is spending almost $1 million a year overall on drug crimes and calls.
5. Dayton is a major force and player in heroin that is coming into our city daily. Cincinnati is not far behind.
6. Drug overdoses & drug addict thefts are draining our police, fire and medic services daily.
7. Drug Trafficking is not jurisdiction specific – we have to be more open to change to fix the problem

We have done a lot over the last few years to combat this. We have been part of the Heroin Summit, added 2 additional K9’s, increased staffing in Special Investigations, teamed with OSP on drug interdiction off the interstate and been a part of the Heroin Response Team. But the fact is that the problem has gotten worse, not better. We will continue these changes we have pushed, but we are doing something outside of the box that we haven’t done in years. We made around 800 drug arrests last year – probably the most in the county, but we still have major work to do.

I met with Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones yesterday and we will be joining the Butler County Regional Task Force, also known as BURN. This give us jurisdictional help and allows us to address dealers who are pushing their drugs from other cities outside Middletown. I had a great meeting with the Sheriff to finalize details. They are extremely excited to have us aboard and building this full time relationship makes us stronger in our fight. This is a smart move tactically and financially. Personally, I know this move is the right one and I know that BCSO is as passionate as getting drugs off the street as we are. I met with the Hamilton Chief Friday to discuss similar joint partnerships. Regionalization is the key. We have to change with the times. We are also going to be training with them and working some drug/K9 interdiction.

Our Special Investigations Drug Unit will not lose any staffing with this change. We actually will be stronger now. This is a crucial time in our city for this because now we will have not only our own drug unit, but ties to two others regionally to combat drug trafficking in Middletown. Being in two counties and directly in the middle of I-75 puts us at a disadvantage. This opens major doors for us in a big way.

I can’t say enough about our patrol division and the work they are doing to get drugs off the street. Patrol, simply put, has went above and beyond in their work. Not only are they taking way too many calls, but they are still getting meth and heroin off the street every day. They are the backbone of our department and they are proving every day they are in the game and then some. I can’t be more proud of patrol. In the first 8 weeks of 2017, they, along with K9, have made around 100 drug arrests already.

As with anything we will evaluate these moves in one year. It is always good to review and discuss after time moves forward. #strongertogether